Question: Vanessa buys a basket of apples on sale for $\$5$ before tax. The sales tax is $18\%$. What is the total price Vanessa pays for the basket of apples? (Round to the nearest hundredth or cent.)
Answer: In order to find the total price, first find the amount of sales tax paid by multiplying the sales tax by the original price of the basket of apples. ${18\%} \times {$5} =$ Percent means "out of one hundred," so $18\%$ is equivalent to $\frac{18}{100}$ which is also equal to $18 \div 100$ $18 \div 100 = 0.18$ Multiply the sales tax you just converted into a decimal by the original price to find the amount of sales tax that must be paid. ${0.18} \times {$5} = {$0.90}$ Add the sales tax you just found to the original price to find the final price Vanessa paid. ${$0.90} + {$5.00} = $5.90$ Vanessa needs to pay $$5.90.$